Nanotechnologies can bring innovations to the numerous fields of science or manufacturing including electronics and medicine. Recently, nano-printing was associated exceptionally with multibillion-dollar facilities which produced nano-sized electronic components. Nevertheless, the team of Northwestern’s International Institute for Nanotechnology headed by its director Chad Mirkin created the first desktop nano-fabrication tool in 2013. The instrument is designed to produce nano-elements of custom electronics and make products which previously cost millions of dollars more accessible to the customers.
Creation of the desktop printer for nano-fabrication is a large step forward in the promotion of nanotechnology as a constituent of our everyday life. For a long time, nano industry has been an exceptional opportunity to create devices of the latest generation which could benefit merely to a very limited number of people and organizations which can afford them. But with the nano-fabrication equivalent of a desktop printer, electronic devices will become accessible to those who really need them. According to the researchers, materials necessary for nano-fabrication are easily accessible which will certainly accelerate commercialization of a tool.
Newly developed tool is predicted to make the breakthrough in medicine. The device can generate and print patterns of DNA and protein to push the stem cells research forward. Perhaps, it will give scientists a clue about how different chemicals make stem cells grow into every particular tissue. Besides healthcare researchers, military people need this nano-fabrication tool to perform their duties. The desktop printer will allow issuing numerous electronic and optic devices essential to detect suspicious activity on the fly and in the field.